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Equanimity update - Lineup (Pt. VIII)

Posted by Johannes Zetterberg
On April 19, 2015

ON VOCALS #2 - ACCENT

A cappella music is something that has been with me for as long as I can remember. Growing up, my dad (a now-retired countertenor) always played records by The King's Singers, The Real Group & The Singers Unlimited around the house. I can vividly recall hearing The King's Singers' beautiful arrangement of "And I Love Her" (The Beatles) for the first time.. man, after that there really was no turning back, I was hooked! Later on, I immersed myself in the music of groups like Take 6, New York Voices & The Manhattan Transfer. I transcribed a lot of Take 6 in particular, and eventually attempted to write a few close harmony vocal arrangements of my own, some of which ended up on my last album Painter's Portrait.

In 2012, while in the midst of writing material for Equanimity, I started seeing all these great a cappella multitrack videos popping up on YouTube, and as I dug deeper I came across Evan Sanders' wonderful take on "Some Children See Him". I liked it so much that I reached out to him to see if he'd be interested in singing on a new piece I'd been working on. Evan was really into the idea, and suggested featuring Accent on it, a virtual a cappella sextet that he and some other YouTubers had formed about a year prior. On checking out their covers of the Take 6 classics "Gold Mine" & "Get Away, Jordan", I was amazed at how well their voices blended together, and how they had managed to achieve that real tight group sound, despite being spread out in different corners of the world. So, I immediately set about rearranging the piece to better utilize the vocal range of the group, and I think it goes without saying, the guys killed it!

Accent is, in my opinion, the best "new" vocal group around, carrying on the legacy of the greats before them, while also putting their own spin on it. They just released their debut album Here WeAre earlier this year, so definitely check that out! And while you're at it, have a look at the EPK below - their backstory is pretty cool!